Euro progress refreshes all England parts

ENGLAND will go into the Six Nations in the finest fettle with the possibility of their greatest Heineken Cup quarter-final representation – four – since European competition was in its infancy 15 years ago.

The final push begins tonight in the French Basque Country when Harlequins seek a double over Biarritz. Unbeaten Quins are already through and, coming out of the softest pool, are almost certain of their first knock-out game at The Stoop since the fake-blood scandal of 2009.

Saracens are nearly there, too, receiving Edinburgh on Sunday for an overdue farewell to Watford heavily slanted in their favour. They began Edinburgh’s pitiful Euro campaign by amassing almost a half-century at Murrayfield. The Scottish side are joined by easy-beat Italian newcomers Zebre in having zero points.

In addition, Leicester will qualify by beating Toulouse on Sunday when the pools culminate with a mega-occasion at Welford Road. Even Northampton would have an outside shot of a best runners-up place with a bonus-point victory in Glasgow.

It’s certainly beneficial to us that they’re doing well, because you want the players to be playing in big games where the results are decided by one or two points and they get used to playing at that intensity

England coach Stuart Lancaster

These are the top three in the Premiership, with Northampton fifth. Small wonder England coach Stuart Lancaster is so satisfied at the battle-hardened condition of his players, with a weekend’s recuperation to come and the England-Scotland game at Twickenham only a fortnight away.

“It’s certainly beneficial to us that they’re doing well, because you want the players to be playing in big games where the results are decided by one or two points and they get used to playing at that intensity,” he said.

“The decision-making time is reduced, the intensity and physicality of the hits is up and the top level of European games is as close as you are going to get to international level. We should at least get the three teams in there, which is fantastic.”

In contrast with the English, all three of the Welsh Heineken Cup entrants are already beyond salvation, in the case of Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets with five-from-five losing records, precisely the opposite of Harlequins.

Yet Wales coach Robert Howley, planning for Ireland in Cardiff on the same day as England against Scotland, makes light of the demise, indeed takes strength from the Ospreys’ draw with Leicester last Sunday and a home defeat of Toulouse.

Howley’s public posture is the reverse of his English opposite number in that he says he

expects his players to use their Heineken failure, as opposed to success, as Test-match motivation. In fairness, we have heard England coaches say much the same when it has gone poorly for their clubs.

Is Howley concerned about the European flop? “Not at all,” he said. “Confidence is no doubt key in players’ mind-sets, and they will be disappointed with their performances. It’s great to win and when you do, your level of technical and tactical ability goes up to another level.

“But these players will be coming in with points to prove. We are Grand Slam champions, Six Nations holders, and this is the start of the process of giving our players the confidence to believe they can go out and win games.

“I could easily be very, very negative to my players. But there’s a lot of Welsh young talent, as the Ospreys have been showing lately, and we’re not afraid of picking it. Actually, a lot of our players are in very good form.”

Howley was himself a European champion with Wasps in 2004, so knows the potential benefit. It was also the case that Wales had just one quarter-finalist – the Blues, thrashed by Leinster – in their 2012 Grand Slam season.

Perhaps the correlation is arguable. But it is obvious which of the Anglo-Welsh coaches is better placed as the Heineken Cup reaches a pivotal weekend. And Lancaster has the added reassurance of the English clubs’ dominance of the second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup.

Bath, Gloucester and Wasps were already in the last eight with one still to play and Worcester have pushed Perpignan all the way, whereas Wales’ Newport Dragons have slipped away.